RGD Containing Recombinant Gelatin

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns recombinant gelatins with unevenly distributed RGD motifs that are of particular use in several applications involving cell attachment such as in cell culture work and applications involving cell cultures of anchor dependent cells and also in a variety of medical applications.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is in the field of recombinantly produced gelatins. The gelatins of the present invention are of particular use in several applications involving cell attachment such as in cell culture work and applications involving cell cultures of anchor dependent cells and also in a variety of medical applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cell culture systems of animal cells, in particular mammalian cells (including human cells), is important for the production of many important (genetically engineered) biological materials such as vaccines, enzymes, hormones and antibodies. The majority of animal cells are anchorage-dependent and require attachment to a surface or cell culture support for their survival and growth.

Cell attachment also plays an important role in medical applications such as wound treatment (including artificial skin materials), bone and cartilage (re)growth and implantations and artificial blood vessel materials. Thus in medical applications often the demand is that a material, such as an implant or transplant material, comprises a biocompatible coating in terms of cell attachment.

Another area of interest in relation to cell attachment is the blocking of attachment receptors of cells. For instance by blocking the attachment receptors cancer metastasis may be influenced or inhibited, platelet aggregation may be influenced in antithrombotic compositions and tissues adhesion may be prevented, e.g. after surgery, or may be promoted, e.g. for dental products or other medical products.

In US 2006/0241032 RGD-enriched gelatin-like proteins with a minimum (increased) level of RGD motifs and with a certain distribution of said RGD motifs are disclosed that were found to be highly suitable for cell adhesion and cell binding in medical and biotechnological applications. The cell binding peptides described therein have good cell attachment properties.

Watson et al in J Pharm Pharmacol. 2006 58 (7):959-66 describe a tetravalent RGD ligand for integrin-mediated cell adhesion. Maheshwari et al. in J Cell Sci. 2000 113 (Pt 10):1677-86 describe that cell adhesion and motility depend on nanoscale RGD clustering.

There is however always the need for further improvements of materials for use in applications involving cell attachment. The instant invention provides improved gelatin-like polypeptides, which are particularly useful for cell attachment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the search for further improvements of gelatins that contain RGD motifs that are suitable for cell adhesion and cell attachment, the present inventors identified a particularly advantageous gelatin. It is a recombinant gelatin having an uneven distribution of RGD motifs over the length of the polypeptide. Also multimers could be made comprising monomers with an uneven distribution of RGD motifs over the length of the polypeptide, having very good polypeptide stability and cell adhesive properties. The multimers have the advantage that they are typically produced in significantly higher yields than the monomer. For instance, yields obtained for the CBE monomer as disclosed herein are typically 3-5 gram per liter clarified broth, whereas CBE multimers were produced in amounts exceeding 10 g/L. Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, the recombinant gelatins are provided, as well as cell supports coated therewith and controlled release compositions comprising the recombinant gelatins. Also methods for using the recombinant gelatins and/or the cell supports or controlled release compositions for cell adhesion related medical applications are provided.

GENERAL DEFINITIONS

Whereas often the terms ‘collagen’, ‘collagen-related’, ‘collagen-derived’ or the like are also used in the art, the term ‘gelatin’ or ‘gelatin-like’ protein will be used throughout the rest of this description. Natural gelatin is a mixture of individual polymers with MW's ranging from 5,000 up to more than 400,000 daltons.

The terms “cell adhesion” and “cell attachment” are used interchangeably.

Also the terms “RGD sequence” and “RGD motif” are used interchangeably.

The terms “protein” or “polypeptide” or “peptide” are used interchangeably and refer to molecules consisting of a chain of amino acids, without reference to a specific mode of action, size, 3-dimensional structure or origin.

The term “support” or “cell attachment support” refers herein to any support which can be used to facilitate cell attachment and/or growth, such as culture dishes, microcarriers (e.g. microcarrier beads), stents, implants, etc.

The term “sequence identity”, “substantially identical”, “substantial identity” or “essentially similar” or “essential similarity” means that two polypeptide, when aligned pairwise using the Smith-Waterman algorithm with default parameters, comprise at least 76%, 77% or 78%, preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more amino acid sequence identity. More preferably, the polypeptides comprise said amino acid sequence identity while having no more than 3 gaps, preferably no more than 2 gaps, even more preferably no more than 1 gap and most preferably 0 gaps in the alignment. Sequence alignments and scores for percentage sequence identity may be determined using computer programs, such as the GCG Wisconsin Package, Version 10.3, available from Accelrys Inc., 9685 Scranton Road, San Diego, Calif. 92121-3752 USA or using in EmbossWIN (e.g. version 2.10.0). For comparing sequence identity between two sequences, it is preferred that local alignment algorithms are used, such as the Smith Waterman algorithm (Smith T F, Waterman M S (1981) J. Mol. Biol 147 (1); 195-7), used e.g. in the EmbossWIN program “water”. Default parameters are gap opening penalty 10.0 and gap extension penalty 0.5, using the Blosum62 substitution matrix for proteins (Henikoff & Henikoff, 1992, PNAS 89, 915-919).

As used herein, the term “operably linked” refers to a linkage of elements (nucleic acid or protein or peptide) in a functional relationship. An element is “operably linked” when it is placed into a functional relationship with another element. For instance, a promoter or enhancer is operably linked to a coding sequence if it affects the transcription of the coding sequence. Operably linked means that the elements being linked are typically contiguous and, where necessary to join two protein coding regions, contiguous and in reading frame.

The term “comprising” is to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated parts, steps or components, but does not exclude the presence of one or more additional parts, steps or components.

In addition, reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements. The indefinite article “a” or “an” thus usually means “at least one”.

“Monomer” refers to a polypeptide unit which can be used to generate a “multimer” by repeating the unit in a linear fashion to generate a longer polypeptide. The monomer units are preferably repeated without intervening amino acids, although optionally 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 linking amino acids may be present between monomer units.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to peptides, polypeptides or proteins, in particular to gelatins or gelatin-like proteins, which are highly suitable for cell adhesion and can be used in medical or biotechnological applications. More specifically the invention is directed to cell binding peptides or polypeptides that have improved properties compared to known recombinant gelatin-like RGD-comprising polypeptides, such as described in US 2006/0241032, in particular the sequence designated as SEQ ID NO: 2 therein.

It was found, surprisingly, that it is possible to obtain improved peptides or polypeptides with excellent cell attachment properties and high production yield, which comprise advantages such as improved stability, improved cell attachment properties (probably due to the improved stability) and/or result in a more homogenous distribution of particle size of carriers coated with the recombinant polypeptides (such as core microcarrier beads).

The polypeptides also do not display any health related risks, as they have a low antigenicity and that they can be used without the risk of transferring pathological factors such as viruses, prions and the like.

Without limiting the invention, it is thought that not only the distribution and amount of RGD motifs is important in determining the properties of the polypeptides, For example, in addition to the cell attachment properties, the stability and/or 3-dimensional folding of the polypeptides is an important factor which determines the usefulness of the polypeptide. In this aspect, it was found that not only the number of RGD motifs and their distribution, but that also the intervening amino acid sequences may contribute to the improved properties. Although the monomer CBE polypeptide according to the invention has some sequence similarity to e.g. SEQ ID NO: 2 of US2006/0241032, and also comprises 4 RGD motifs, it is still substantially different from that sequence. When aligned, the two polypeptides have only 72.8% sequence identity and also contain a large number of gaps in the alignment (54 gaps, i.e. 54 unmatched amino acids). Especially one of the amino acids next to each of the RGD sequences is E in the polypeptides according to the invention (i.e. ERGD), while it is D in the polypeptide described in the US patent application (DRGD). Also, the spacing between the RGD motifs is shorter in the monomer (and multimers) according to the invention, with at most 54 amino acids between RGDs (33, 39 and 54 amino acids between the first and second, second and third, and third and fourth RGD, respectively), while the prior art sequence comprises 60 amino acids between RGDs. The uneven distribution of the RGD motifs over the length of the polypeptide is considered to improve the functional properties, e.g. cell attachment properties, of the polypeptide. In addition the increased variability of the present recombinant polypeptide, in particular in terms of variable distribution of RGD motifs, compared to the prior art sequence is considered to render the polypeptide more flexible to various cell-types for cell attachment. In particular it is considered that attachment but also motility of cells via integrins binding to RGD sequences is dependent on the spatial distribution of these RGD ligands. The variable spatial distribution may also lead to clustering of RGD motifs which for certain cell types is also considered advantageous. Different cell types require a different spatial distribution for effective binding. Also a polypeptide with a uneven distribution of RGD motifs can act as a scaffold for cells, independent of the cell-type or motility state, making it a polyvalent cellular scaffold. The present invention thus provides a recombinant polypeptide with improved cell attachment and motility compatibility through polyvalent display of RGD motifs.

Gelatin-Like Polypeptides According to the Invention

Thus, in one embodiment a recombinant gelatin like protein is provided that comprises at least 3 RGD motifs, wherein the number of amino acids between a pair of two sequential RGD motifs is different from the number of amino acids between a different pair of two sequential RGD motifs. For example the number of amino acids between sequentially a first and second RGD motif is different from the number of amino acids between said second and sequentially a third RGD motif. In one embodiment the gelatin like protein comprises at least 4 RGD motifs and preferably between at least three pairs of two sequential RGD motifs the number of amino acids is different. For example the number of amino acids between sequentially a first and second RGD motif is different from the number of amino acids between said second and sequentially a third RGD motif and the number of amino acids between said first and second RGD motif and the number of amino acids between said second and third RGD motif is different from the number of amino acids between said third and sequentially a fourth amino acid. In yet a further embodiment the gelatin like protein comprises at least 5 RGD motifs and preferably between at least four pairs of two sequential RGD motifs the number of amino acids is different. This means for example that, extending on the previous embodiment, the number of amino acids between the fourth and a fifth RGD motif is different from the number of amino acids between the previous pairs of RGD motifs.

The number of amino acids between two sequential RGD motifs is from 0 to 1000, preferably from 0 to 500, more preferably from 0 to 250, even more preferably from 0 to 100, and further preferably from 10 to 100, more preferably 20 to 100, even more preferably from 10 to 75 and most preferably the number of amino acids between any two sequential RGD motifs is from 20 to 75.

In one embodiment the gelatin like protein comprises ERGD motifs. Optionally more RGD and/or ERGD motifs may be present, such as 6, 7 or 8.

The gelatin like protein preferably comprises a substantial number, or consists of, GXY triads, wherein G is Glycine and X and Y are any amino acid. A substantial number of GXY triads refers to at least about 50%, more preferably at least 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or most preferably 100% of amino acid triplets being GXY. Also, the molecular weight is preferably at least about 5 kDa (calculated molecular weight), or at least about 10 kDa or more preferably at least about 11, 12, 13, 14, or about 15 kDa or at least about 16, 17, 18, 19 or about 20 kDa, or more.

Natural gelatins are known to comprise RGD sequences. It is important however that a gelatin molecule does not contain too large parts without RGD motifs. Too large parts of gelatins without RGD sequence reduce the possibility of cell attachment when such a gelatin is used for instance as a coating on a microcarrier. Apparently not all RGD sequences in a gelatin are under all circumstances available for cell attachment. It was found that cell attachment was remarkably improved in gelatins according to the invention compared to gelatins having invariably a stretch of 60 amino acids between RGD motifs.

In a preferred embodiment the RGD-containing gelatin is prepared by recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant gelatins of this invention are preferably derived, or selected (e.g. “copied”), from natural collageneous sequences, preferably with further modification to fulfil the amino acid sequence criteria described elsewhere herein. Nucleic acid sequences encoding collagens have been generally described in the art. (See, e.g., Fuller and Boedtker (1981) Biochemistry 20: 996-1006; Sandell et al. (1984) J Biol Chem 259: 7826-34; Kohno et al. (1984) J Biol Chem 259: 13668-13673; French et al. (1985) Gene 39: 311-312; Metsaranta et al. (1991) J Biol Chem 266: 16862-16869; Metsaranta et al. (1991) Biochim Biophys Acta 1089: 241-243; Wood et al. (1987) Gene 61: 225-230; Glumoff et al. (1994) Biochim Biophys Acta 1217: 41-48; Shirai et al. (1998) Matrix Biology 17: 85-88; Tromp et al. (1988) Biochem J 253: 919-912; Kuivaniemi et al. (1988) Biochem J 252: 633640; and Ala-Kokko et al. (1989) Biochem J 260: 509-516).

Gelatin-Like Polypeptide Multimers According to the Invention

In a further embodiment the present invention concerns repeats, or multimers, of the present gelatin like proteins. This means that a polypeptide with an uneven distribution of RGD motifs as defined above is repeated several times. The polypeptide can thus be considered a monomer. Repeating such a monomer in fact increases the variability in the distribution of the RGD motifs due to differences in a monomer in the number of amino acids from the first amino acid to the first RGD motif compared to the number of amino acids from the last RGD motif to the last amino acid in the monomer. Such multimers thus comprise or consist of at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 repeats of a monomer sequence. Thus, in a further embodiment a recombinant gelatin polypeptide is provided comprising or consisting of a multimer of a monomer sequence described above. Preferably, the monomer repeats are repeats of the same monomer unit (having identical amino acid sequences), although optionally also combinations of different monomer units (having different amino acid sequences, each falling under the criteria above) may be used.

Preferably the monomer units are not separated by spacing amino acids, although short linking amino acids, such as 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 amino acids, may also be inserted between one or more of the monomers.

The (calculated) molecular weight of the present polypeptide, be it a monomer or multimer, may range from about 5 kDa to about 400 kDa.

Multimers can be generated using known standard molecular biology methods. An example can be found in Werten et al. in Protein Engineering vol 14, pp 447-454, 2001. When using this method, the multimer protein can be preceded and followed by a few extra amino acids, owing to the use of restriction enzymes sites for the construction of the multimer.

Additional preferred embodiments of the present invention:

In a further preferred embodiment the RGD containing gelatin or gelatin-like protein is in essence free of hydroxyproline residues. Characteristic for gelatin is the unusual high content of proline residues. Even more characteristic is that in natural gelatin a number of the proline residues is hydroxylated. Most prominent site of hydroxylation is the 4-position resulting in the presence in the gelatin molecule of the unusual amino acid 4-hydroxyproline. In a GXY triplet 4-hydroxyproline is always found in the Y position. The presence of the hydroxyproline residues is responsible for the fact that a gelatin molecule in its secondary structure can adopt a helical conformation. Thus, it is preferred that the gelatins to be used according to the invention in applications in which the gelling property is unfavourable contain less than 5%, preferably less than 3%, more preferably less than 1% of hydroxyproline residues and most preferably the recombinant gelatin is free from hydroxyprolines in applications where the gelling capability of the recombinant gelatin is unfavourable. As described in WO 02/070000 A1, recombinant gelatins which are in essence free from hydroxyprolines do not show immune reactions involving IgE in contrast to natural gelatin.

In a further embodiment the invention relates to RGD containing gelatins which are not glycosylated. Glycosylation takes place at the amino acids Asn (N-glycosydic structures), or Ser or Thr (O-glycosydic structures). Glycosylation should be preferably prevented for applications where no immune response is desired. The absence of Asn, Ser and Thr amino acids in the primary sequence is an effective way to prevent the glycosylation in biotechnological production systems using for instance yeast cell cultures.

Still a further embodiment of this invention relates to RGD containing gelatins comprising additional positively charged groups, for example as the result of including additional arginines, lysines or histidines in the gelatins. Recombinant production of gelatins allows easy manipulation of the number of positively charged amino acids In particular arginine, lysine and histidine carry positive charges. It is well within the reach of the skilled person to design a gelatin with a net positive charge at a certain pH. Thus a further embodiment of the invention relates to RGD containing gelatins having a net positive charge at pH 7-7.5. Preferably the net positive charge is +2, +3, +4, +5, +10 or higher. In one embodiment the invention relates to RGD containing gelatins comprising additional arginines, lysines or histidines in such an amount, that at pH 7-7.5. the net positive charge is +2, +3, +4, +5, +10 or higher.

Material and Compositions Comprising the RGD Containing Recombinant Gelatins

It was found that recombinant gelatins according to the invention are very suitable for coating cell culture supports which can be used in biotechnological processes or in medical applications. RGD sequences in gelatins can adhere to specific receptors on the cell wall called integrins. These integrins differ in their specificity in recognising cell binding amino acid sequences.

Recombinantly produced gelatin does not suffer from the disadvantage of contamination with pathogens originating from the animal from which the gelatin was derived.

When used as or in combination with a cell culture support, the gelatin-like polypeptides according to the invention functions as a cell binding polypeptide. It has the advantage over other polypeptides that it can also be metabolised by the cells growing on it. A further advantage is that it can be easily digested enzymatically so that cells can be harvested with almost 100% yield.

A further advantage of recombinantly produced gelatins is that the molecular weight (MW) can be kept uniform. Natural gelatins unavoidably have a broad molecular weight distribution with peptides smaller than 5,000 kD up to large polymers with a molecular weight larger than 400,000 kD, resulting from the production method. In particular in combination with microcarrier core beads as cell culture support, a disadvantage of smaller peptides is that they will adhere inside finer pores of the microcarrier which cannot be reached by the cells so that part of the added gelatin is not used. With recombinant production methods the gelatin can be designed with the desired molecular weight, preventing this undesired loss of material.

A cell support comprising a recombinant gelatin according to the invention is provided. Such a cell support may be selected from the group consisting of

1) a cell-culture support, such as a core bead (e.g. a microcarrier bead) or a Petri dish or the like, coated with one or more gelatin-like polypeptides according to the invention; 2) an implant or transplant device (such as hip-, dental-, or other implants, stents, etc.) coated with one or more of the recombinant gelatins according to the invention, 3) a scaffold or matrix for tissue engineering, such as artificial skin matrix material, coated with one or more recombinant gelatin like polypeptides; 4) a wound healing product coated with one or more recombinant gelatin like polypeptides; 5) a tissue adhesive comprising or consisting of one or more recombinant gelatin like polypeptides; 6) a dermal filler.

The recombinant gelatin like proteins offers advantages in that the cell supports, such as microcarriers coated with the polypeptides, have advantageous properties. A key problem in the process of coating microcarrier core beads is the clumping together of beads. In particular such clumping reduces the available surface area for cell attachment and disturbs the size distribution of the microcarriers rendering them unusable. It was found that the use of the polypeptides according to the invention resulted in a more homogenous distribution of coated particle sizes. Also cell adhesion properties of the supports was improved, possibly due to the enhanced protein stability found.

In one embodiment the cell supports provided herein comprise only one recombinant gelatin according to the invention, i.e. selected from one of the polypeptides provided. The product is thus uniform in amino acid sequence, molecular weight, etc. Optionally the peptides may be cross-linked by e.g. chemical cross-linking.

In a different embodiment mixtures of polypeptides according to the invention may be used, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, or more different amino acid sequences according to the invention. The ratios of mixtures may vary, such as 1:1, or 10:1, 50:1, 100:1, 1:100, 1:50, 1:10, and ratios in between these. Optionally also these mixtures may be crosslinked by e.g. chemical cross linking.

When using the present recombinant gelatin like proteins for coating porous microcarrier beads, preferably polypeptides with a molecular weight of at least about 30 kDa are used, e.g. at least about 30 kDa, 40 kDa, 50 kDa, 60 kDa or 70 kDa or more. The reason for this is that smaller polypeptides enter the pores, thereby not contributing to the cell attachment properties of the coated beads and the coating process may be inefficient, especially if low concentrations of polypeptides are used in the process.

By selecting a molecular weight, within the above specified range, in a coating process the viscosity of the gelatin or gelatin-like protein coating solution can be accurately controlled. Complete or, more important, partial gelling of such a gelatin solution can be prevented while being able to select a high as possible concentration of the gelatin. The uniform gelatin ensures a process of identically coated microcarriers. The uniform coating process allows the use of a minimum amount of gelatin and the use of a minimum volume of gelatin coating solution. All this results in a far more efficient coating process than that is known in the art.

In one embodiment of the invention non-porous core beads are coated with gelatin of the invention. Suitably non-porous core beads are made of polystyrene or glass. Other suitable non-porous materials are known to those skilled in the art.

A particular advantageous embodiment is the process of the invention wherein porous core beads, such as beads from modified dextran or cross-linked cellulose, or (porous) polystyrene, in particular DEAE-dextran, are coated with the RGD containing gelatin of the invention. Other suitable porous materials are known to those skilled in the art, and include e.g. other chemically modified or non-modified polysaccharides.

The size of the beads may vary from 50 μm to 500 μm. Typical mean microcarrier bead sizes are about 100, about 150 or about 200 μm in physiological saline. Size ranges with at least 90% of the beads lying within the range may vary from 80-120 μm, 100-150 μm, 125-175 μm or 150-200 μm.

A wide range of cells may be cultured on microcarriers. For instance, cells from invertebrates, from fish, birds and cells of mammalian origin may be cultivated on microcarriers. Transformed and normal cell lines, fibroblastic and epithelial cells and even genetically engineered cells may be cultivated on microcarriers for various biological applications such as for the production of immunologicals like interferons, interleukins, growth factors etc. Cells cultured on microcarriers also serve as hosts for a variety of viruses that are used as vaccines like foot and mouth disease or rabies.

Microcarrier cultures have a wide number of applications other than mass cultivation as well. Cells growing on microcarriers serve as an excellent tool for studying different aspects of cell biology such as cell-to-cell or cell-to-substratum interactions. Cell differentiation and maturation, metabolic studies may also be carried out using microcarriers. Such cells can also be used for electron microscopic studies or for the isolation of cell organelles such as the cell membrane. Also, this system is essentially a three-dimensional system and serves as a good 3-D model. Similarly, co-cultivation of cells can be done using this system. Thus applications include the production of large quantities of cells, viruses and cell products (e.g. interferon, enzymes, nucleic acids, hormones), studies on cell adhesion, differentiation and cell function, perfusion column culture systems, microscopy studies, harvesting mitotic cells, isolation of cells, membrane studies, storage and transport of cells, assays involving cell transfer and studies on uptake of labelled compounds.

Microcarriers may also be used for the depletion of macrophages from a population of spleen cells. DEAE-dextran microcarriers coated with the RGD containing gelatin of the invention can potentiate stimulation of lymphocytes by concanavalin A (con A). Microcarrier beads confluent with allogenic tumour cells can be injected in mice to increase humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Plant protoplasts can be immobilised on DEAE-dextran microcarriers coated with the RGD containing gelatin of the invention.

As a result of the large surface area to volume ratio provided by microcarriers, they can successfully be used for a variety of biological productions on a laboratory scale as well as an industrial scale of for instance even 4000 litres or more.

Large scale production of expressed products can be accomplished with gelatin-coated microcarriers. Loading of microcarriers in production scale bioreactors is generally 20 g/l, but may be increased up to 40 g/l. Microcarriers may be used in batch and perfusion systems, in stirred cultures, and wave bioreactors, as well as to increase the surface area of traditional stationary monolayers and roller cultures.

The hydroxyproline-free RGD containing recombinant gelatins of the invention. can be used in higher concentrations in this process, and the solutions will be less viscous requiring less vigorous agitation, resulting in less shear forces on the cultured cells.

A process for the preparation of collagen coated microcarriers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,388. In short providing a core bead with a collagen coating is performed in two steps: coating and fixing. The core beads are suspended in an acidic, aqueous collagen solution (0.01-0.1N acetic acid), and the solution is evaporated to dryness. The dry, collagen-coated beads are then suspended in a solution which contains a protein cross-linking agent such as glutaraldehyde, thus cross-linking the collagen coating. Alternatively, the core beads wetted with the collagen solution are not dried entirely before the start of the fixing step. Variations in coating conditions and alternative coating processes are well within the competence of those skilled in the art.

Recombinant structures can also be designed to incorporate additional positively charged groups, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,474, by building in additional arginines, lysines or histidines. Recombinant production of gelatins allows easy manipulation of the number of positively charged amino acids, meaning positively charged at the pH of the cell culture, in the produced protein. In particular arginine, lysine and histidine carry positive charges. It is well within the reach of the skilled person to design a gelatin with a net positive charge at the pH of the particular cell culture of interest. Cells are normally cultured at a pH of 7-7.5. Thus in a further embodiment of the invention a gelatin or gelatin-like protein is used that has a net positive charge at pH 7-7.5. Preferably the net positive charge is +2, +3, +4, +5, +10 or higher. Thus in a further embodiment the invention relates to a gelatin that has a net positive charge at pH 7-7.5. Preferably the net positive charge is +2, +3, +4, +5, +10 or higher

In a further embodiment the invention relates to the use of RGD containing gelatins according to the invention to block surface receptors on cells and to make compositions for blocking such receptors. Blocking of receptors of cells is applied in for example inhibiting angiogenesis or in blocking integrins on cardiac fibroblasts.

Cell supports coated with recombinant gelatin according to the invention, on which cells have been grown can be applied during, for example, transplantation of skin or wound treatment or to enhance bone or cartilage (re)growth. It is also possible to coat implant materials with recombinant gelatin of the invention to adhere cells which promote implantation.

In yet another embodiment of the invention a controlled release composition comprising one or more recombinant gelatins according to the invention is provided. The composition may, thus further comprise one or more drugs. The controlled release composition can be administered by injection (subcutaneous, intravenous or intramuscular) or orally or via inhalation. However, the used controlled release composition can also be implanted via surgery. Yet another suitable route of administering is via an external wound dressing or even transdermally.

The controlled release composition preferably comprises the recombinant gelatin in a cross-linked form, e.g. chemically crosslinked. The invention further provides use of a controlled release composition as described herein for the preparation of a medicament for the treatment of pain, cancer therapy, cardiovascular diseases, myocardial repair, angiogenesis, bone repair and regeneration, wound treatment, neural stimulation/therapy or diabetics

The RGD-containing gelatins according to the invention can be produced by recombinant methods as disclosed in EP-A-0926543, EP-A-1014176 or WO01/34646. Also for enablement of the production and purification of gelatins of the invention reference is made to the examples in EP-A-0926543 and EP-A-1014176.

Starting from a natural nucleic acid sequence encoding (part of) a collagen, also point mutations can be applied so as to yield a sequence encoding an RGD containing gelatin according to the invention. Based on the known codons a point mutation can be performed so that an RGX sequence after mutation will yield an RGD sequence, alternatively also an YGD sequence can be mutated to yield an RGD sequence. Also it is possible to carry out two mutations so that an YGX sequence will give an RGD sequence. Also it may be possible to insert one or more nucleotides or delete one or more nucleotides giving rise to a desired RGD sequence. In a similar way structures comprising ERGD sequences can be made.

Thus the gelatin-like proteins can be produced by expression of nucleic acid sequence encoding such polypeptide by a suitable micro-organism. The process can suitably be carried out with a fungal cell or a yeast cell. Suitably the host cell is a high expression host cells like Hansenula, Trichoderma, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Neurospora or Pichia. Fungal and yeast cells are preferred to bacteria as they are less susceptible to improper expression of repetitive sequences. Most preferably the host will not have a high level of proteases that attack the collagen structure expressed. Especially methylotrophic yeasts are preferred. In this respect Pichia or Hansenula offers an example of a very suitable expression system. Use of Pichia pastoris as an expression system is disclosed in EP-A-0926543 and EP-A-1014176. In one embodiment the micro-organism is free of active post-translational processing mechanism such as in particular hydroxylation of proline and also hydroxylation of lysine. In another embodiment the host system has an endogenic proline hydroxylation activity by which the recombinant gelatin is hydroxylated in a highly effective way. The selection of a suitable host cell from known industrial enzyme producing fungal host cells specifically yeast cells on the basis of the required parameters described herein rendering the host cell suitable for expression of recombinant gelatin-like proteins suitable in compositions according to the invention in combination with knowledge regarding the host cells and the sequence to be expressed will be possible by a person skilled in the art.

Thus in one aspect the invention also concerns a method for producing a recombinant gelatin according to the present invention, said method comprising

preparing an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a recombinant gelatin comprising at least 3 RGD motifs operably linked to a suitable promoter,

expressing said nucleic acid sequence in a methylotrophic yeast,

culturing said yeast under suitable fermentation conditions to allow expression of said nucleic acid sequence;

optionally purifying said polypeptide from the culture

Sequences SEQ ID NO 1: CBE SEQ ID NO 2: CBE₂ SEQ ID NO 3: CBE₃ SEQ ID NO 4: CBE₄ SEQ ID NO 5: CBE₅ SEQ ID NO 6: CBE₆ SEQ ID NO 7: CBE₇ SEQ ID NO 8: CBE₈ SEQ ID NO 9: CBE₉ SEQ ID NO 10: CBE₁₀

SEQ ID NO 11: CBE monomer

In one embodiment a gelatin according to the present invention comprises or consists of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. In one embodiment the multimer recombinant gelatins according to the present invention, e.g. SEQ ID NO 2-10 are extended with a glycine (G) at the carboxy-terminus. In one embodiment the multimer recombinant gelatins according to the present invention, e.g. SEQ ID NO 2-10 are preceded by a glycine-alanine-proline triplet (GAP) at the amino-terminus. Thus recombinant gelatins according to the present invention include GAP (SEQ ID NO 11)_(x)G, wherein x is an integer selected form 2-10.

EXAMPLES Example 1

An RGD-containing gelatin was produced based on a nucleic acid sequence that encodes for a part of the gelatin amino acid sequence of human COL1A1-1 and modifying this nucleic acid sequence. The methods as disclosed in EP-A-0926543, EP-A-1014176 and WO01/34646 were used. This RGD-containing gelatin is named CBE and the sequence of this RGD-containing gelatin according to the invention is given in SEQ ID NO: 1. Via standard subcloning methods multimers of the CBE monomer (SEQ ID NO 11; i.e. CBE without the first GAP and wherein the terminal isoleucine is replaced by proline) have been prepared.

Amino acid sequence of CBE monomer (SEQ ID NO: 11) used in the Examples below:

GAPGLQGAPGLQGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGAPGLQGM PGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPIGPPGERGAAG LPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPIGPPGPAGAPGAPGLQGMP GERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPP calculated molecular weight is 17.2 kDa; 189 amino acids in length

Amino acid sequence used in the Examples below which is CBE₃ (SEQ ID NO: 3) extended with a glycine (G) and preceded by GAP:

GAP(GAPGLQGAPGLQGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGAPG LQGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPIGPPGER GAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPIGPPGPAGAPGAPGL QGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPP)₃G calculated molecular weight is 51.7 kDa; 571 amino acids in length

Amino acid sequence used in the Examples below which is CBE₅ (SEQ ID NO: 5) extended with a glycine (G) and preceded by GAP:

GAP(GAPGLQGAPGLQGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGAPG LQGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPIGPPGER GAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPIGPPGPAGAPGAPGL LQGMPGERGAAGLPGPKGERGDAGPKGADGAPGKDGVRGLAGPP)₅G calculated molecular weight is 86.1 kDa; 949 amino acids in length

Example 2 Preparation of Microcarriers Beads

Polystyrene beads with an average diameter of 100 micrometers are used. The heterobifunctional cross-linking agent, BBA-EAC-NOS, is used to covalently immobilise gelatin onto polystyrene beads. The BBA-EAC-NOS is added to the polystyrene beads and allowed to adsorb. Next, gelatin is added and is allowed to react with the NOS synthetic polymer to produce covalent coupling to the spacer. Then the beads are photoactivated (at 320 nm) to covalently immobilise the spacer (and covalently coupled gelatin) to the polystyrene beads. Finally, loosely adherent gelatin is removed by overnight washing with the mild detergent Tween 20 in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.2).

Cell Types and Culture Conditions

Green monkey kidney (Vero) cells, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, normal rat kidney fibroblast (NRK-49F) cells, and Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells were purchased from ATCC. All four cell types were passaged and maintained in 75 cm² flasks at 37 DEG C. in a 5% CO₂ environment. Vero and NRK-49F cells were cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagles's Medium (DMEM), CHO cells were cultured in Ham's F-12 Nutrient Mixture, and MDCK cells were cultured in Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) with Earle's salts.

With the Vero and CHO cells, the medium was supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 2 mM L-glutamine, 20 mM HEPES buffer, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 100 ug/ml streptomycin, and 100 units/ml penicillin (final pH 7.1). With the NRK-49F cells, the DMEM was supplemented with 5% FBS, 2 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, non-essential amino acids (0.1 mM each), 100 μg/ml streptomycin, 100 units/ml penicillin, and 0.25 μg/ml of amphotericin B (final pH 7.1). With the MDCK cells, the MEM was supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mM L-glutamine, non-essential amino acids (0.1 mM each), and 100 μg/ml streptomycin, 100 units/ml penicillin, and 0.25 μg/ml of amphotericin B (final pH 7.1).

In order to standardise the physiology of cells prior to each experiment, cells were passed into 150 cm² flasks 2 to 3 days prior to inoculation of microcarrier beads. Cells were trypsinised (0.05% trypsin, 0.53 mM EDTA in PBS) for removal from the flasks. For the microcarrier experiments, the cells were centrifuged to remove the trypsin medium and resuspended to about 1.times.10⁶ cells/ml in culture medium. The viable cell concentration was determined by Trypan dye exclusion (0.4% Trypan blue in 0.9% saline).

Cell Culture and Assays in Spinner Flasks

For the cell attachment assay, 20 mg/ml of coated polystyrene beads were used and the cell concentration was 1.5.times.10⁵ cells/ml for each cell type.

Microcarriers were cultured with 100 ml cultures being maintained in 250 ml spinner vessels and stirred with suspended magnetic impellers (50 rpm).

The kinetics of cell attachment were assayed as a decrease in supernatant cell concentration. For sample removal the agitation was stopped briefly (about 30 seconds) at which time the microcarriers settled and a supernatant sample was removed for cell quantitation as described below.

For the cell counts, the cells were stained by mixing with an equal volume of crystal violet (0.1% w/w) in 0.1 M citric acid, and then counted with a hemocytometer. Cell depletion from the medium was used as an indicator of cells attached to beads.

To verify that cells removed from the medium were indeed attached to microcarriers (and not lysed), cells attached to microcarriers were quantitated at the end of each cell attachment assay. One ml aliquots of well-agitated carrier medium were removed, the microcarriers were allowed to settle, and the settled microcarriers were resuspended in crystal violet/citric acid as described above. After incubating 1 hour at 37 DEG C., the suspension was sheared by sucking into and out of a Pasteur pipette to release nuclei, which were quantitated with a haemocytometer.

Gelatin CBE (SEQ ID NO: 1) was used as a microcarrier coating according to the foregoing procedure and compared with a reference RGD-containing gelatin with sequence identifier number 2 having four RGD sequences as disclosed in US 2006/0241032. CBE gave improved results in terms of numbers of cell depletion from the starting culture medium and also in terms of cell attachment to microcarriers. This improvement is indicative for the improved variability due to the uneven distribution of RGD motifs compared to the sequence with identifier number 2 as disclosed in US 2006/0241032.

Also gelatins comprising CBE₃ and CBE₅ are used as a microcarrier coating according to the foregoing procedure and compared with a trimer, a tetramer and a quintamer of RGD-containing gelatin with sequence identifier number 2 as disclosed in US 2006/0241032. Probably due to their improved variability due to the uneven distribution of RGD motifs, gelatins comprising CBE₃ and CBE₅ show improved cell attachment to microcarriers compared to the multimeric gelatins based on the sequence with identifier number 2 as disclosed in US 2006/0241032. Also particle size measurements of gelatins comprising CBE₃ and CBE₅ coated microcarriers after keeping the coated microcarriers for 24 hours and immediately after the cell attachment assay show a more homogeneous distribution of particle sizes compared to the multimeric gelatins based on the sequence with identifier number 2 as disclosed in US 2006/0241032. 

1-15. (canceled)
 16. A recombinant gelatin comprising at least 3 RGD motifs, wherein the number of amino acids between a pair of two sequential RGD motifs is between 0 and 100 and is different from the number of amino acids, which is between 0 and 100 between a different pair of two sequential RGD motifs.
 17. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16 comprising at least 4 RGD motifs wherein between at least three pairs of two sequential RGD motifs the number of amino acids is different.
 18. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16 comprising at least 5 RGD motifs wherein between at least four pairs of two sequential RGD motifs the number of amino acids is different.
 19. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16, wherein the number of amino acids between any pair of sequential RGD motifs is between 10 and
 75. 20. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 17, wherein the number of amino acids between any pair of sequential RGD motifs is between 10 and
 75. 21. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16, said gelatin comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or
 10. 22. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 17, said gelatin comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or
 10. 23. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 20, said gelatin comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or
 10. 24. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16, wherein the gelatin comprises less than 5% hydroxyproline residues.
 25. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 17, wherein the gelatin comprises less than 5% hydroxyproline residues.
 26. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 20, wherein the gelatin comprises less than 5% hydroxyproline residues.
 27. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 24, wherein the gelatin comprises less than 5% hydroxyproline residues.
 28. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16, which is not glycosylated.
 29. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 17, which is not glycosylated.
 30. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 30, which is not glycosylated.
 31. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 27, which is not glycosylated.
 32. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 16, which at pH 7-7.5 has a net positive charge of +2, +3, +4, +5, +10 or higher.
 33. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 17, wherein the number of amino acids between any pair of sequential RGD motifs is between 10 and 75, said gelatin comprises or consists of SEC) ID NO: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, said gelatin comprises less than 5% hydroxyproline residues and said gelatin is not glycosylated.
 34. The recombinant gelatin according to claim 33, which at pH 7-7.5 has a net positive charge of +2, +3, +4, +5, +10 or higher.
 35. A cell support comprising a recombinant gelatin according to claim
 16. 36. A cell support comprising a recombinant gelatin according to claim
 33. 37. A controlled release composition comprising a recombinant gelatin according to claim
 16. 38. The controlled release composition according to claim 37, wherein the recombinant gelatin is crosslinked.
 39. A controlled release composition comprising a recombinant gelatin according to claim
 33. 40. The controlled release composition according to claim 39, wherein the recombinant gelatin is crosslinked. 